Africa Centre for Open Governance
Kabarsiran Avenue, off lames Gichuru Road, Lavington
20, Box 18157 -00100 Nairobi Kenya
Tel: #254737 463166 /0728 787329] admin@atricog org) wuwaticog. org
Mohamed Awer,
Chief Executive Officer
World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF)
26 March 2018
Dear Sir/Madame
Rl ini wi Wi vi
Greetings from the Africa Centre for Open Governance.
Kenya Wildlife Service, which is mandated to conserve and manage wildlife, signed an
agreement in 2016 permitting the construction of a railway line through the Nairobi
National Park in return for monetary compensation.
The railway will disturb the natural home of over 100 species of wildlife ~ including the
endangered black rhino, lions, leopards, cheetahs, hyenas, buffaloes, giraffes and diverse
birdlife with over 400 species recorded.
The 70-year-old Nairobi National Park is one of Kenya's most iconic and visited parks.
Although the park is a short drive from the central business district, it serves as a respite
from the increasingly concrete jungle that is Nairobi; a picnic site; a place to take walks;
and a venue for hikes on trails amidst a wide-range of wildlife.
The National Environmental Management Authority licensed the Kenya Railways
Corporation to build the railway through the Park on the strength of a hastily conducted
Environmental and Social Impact Assessment ~ performed three months after works had
already begun,
For over two years, a series of court actions, peaceful demonstrations, lobbying, sit-ins and
written petitions to the Government of Kenya to stop the second phase of the Standard
Gauge Railway (SGR) from going through Nairobi National Park have been circumvented.
Following an appeal against the construction of the railway in September 2016, the National
Environment Tribunal issued stop orders but public works continued on bothsides of the Park. In early March this year, Kenya Railways Corporation and the China Road
and Bridge Corporation cordoned off a construction site within Nairobi National Park,
guarded by heavily armed police, and have been working round the clock
Rather than take action to stop the subversion and derogation of the laws of Kenya, the
Kenya Wildlife Service has provided access to Nairobi National Park and colluded in the
destruction of the park. It is highly likely that Kenyans will now be faced with the fait
accompli of a railway line through the park, which will be the beginning of the end of this
Unique park in a city.
The Africa Centre for Open Governance (AfriCOG), an independent non-profit organization
that monitors governance and corruption in Kenya and beyond, has been working on issues
to increase public ethics and accountability around the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) since
2014.
We are concerned about the construction of railway through the 117 square-kilometre
Nairobi National Park, will have a destructive and irreversible effect on it. Already, the park
has suffered from the hiving off of 58 acres of land for the construction of Southern Bypass
in 2014; and 216 acres for the first phase of the Standard Gauge Railway.
This letter is an appeal to friends of Kenya, friends of Nairobi National Park and to anyone
who supports the rule of law, environmental protection and wildlife conservation to help us
to save Nairobi National Park.
We request that you:
1. Suspend partnership, funding and any support that you provide to Kenya Wildlife
Services.
2. Join in the campaign to save the Nairobi National Park by demanding transparency
and accountability on the railway project.
Yours faithfully
Gladwell Otieno
Executive Director
Africa Centre for Open Governance
Ce
Kenya Wildlife Service,
P.O Box 40241-00100
Nairobi, Kenya.